Written by Lyn Lesch
Although many of us have may not have fully realized it, we are now living in an age in which we have lost a certain amount of psychological freedom. The dynamic is less obvious than a loss of physical freedom, simply because its effects are much more indirect in nature. But we are being conditioned by powerful algorithms and coding inside our digital devices in ways in which our working memories may be under assault even before we realize that is what is occurring.
Formerly, before the advent of the current cyber age, the neural pathways in our brains that direct our thinking minds were only the product of long-term memories created through our personal experiences and short-term memories. Now we are increasingly outsourcing our working memories to Google and other search engines by obsessively gravitating to them for information, rather than attempting to pull that information out of our own working memories. And those same neural pathways are being controlled and directed externally. That is, they are being determined by virtual algorithms and computer codes that are entirely non-organic.
Furthermore, as the networks of thought that make up our working memory become increasingly assimilated by the digital pathways inside our phones and PCs, we may well be increasingly losing our capacity to apprehend this sort of digital conditioning of our minds and brains. As a result we may be losing our capacity to remain free enough to avoid it. So what can be done, if anything, to reconnect with our working memories, and in so doing retain our mental freedom? Here are some suggestions:
Access forgotten facts and information with your working memory.
When we use Googleor some other search engine to access knowledge or information we may have forgotten, we are very much at the mercy of the virtual links inside whatever digital device we are using. We can still decide which link we will follow, but the domain within which our search takes place has become extremely limited by whatever algorithms or coding the particular search engine is employing to lead us to the information.
At the same time, the neuronal networks inside our physiological brains are becoming conditioned by the virtual pathways inside our phones and PCs. As we mistakenly believe we are exerting free will by employing Internet technology to access the details of our world, our minds are being conditioned to not only follow particular pathways to certain knowledge and information, but also in terms of how to use our working memory to learn and gain knowledge.
So when you have forgotten some bit of information, instead of going immediately to a search engine, try using your working memory to backtrack and follow related information that might clarify your search naturally within your own mind, or investigate other relevant information that might do the same thing. By doing this, you will be keeping the neuronal networks in your brain alive and functional.
Prevent information overload in your short-term memory.
Although our long-term memories have a nearly unlimited capacity to store information, our short-term memories have only a limited capacity. This means that when facts and information are coming at one too quickly, we’re less able to store it in our short-term memory, where it can then be passed on to our long-term memory, which we use to think intelligently about our world by separating relevant from irrelevant information.
In order to prevent this sort of information overload in your working memory, take time to conceptualize facts and information that you have just had access to on the Web by putting them into a larger context. In so doing, they will be more likely to be stored in your long-term memory, and in the future be used to think intelligently about your world.
The depth of our intelligence depends upon our ability to access information and knowledge from our working memories so that we can then turn that information into actual concepts. So when one takes time to view information that one has recently received conceptually, one is not only facilitating one’s working memory. One is likewise expanding one’s intelligence.
Pay attention to the details of your world.
Unfortunately, as many people skim through all of the information coming at them so quickly on the Web these days on their phones and PCs, that same information — because it gets so quickly dismissed— is never stored in our working memories. Consequently, a habitual pattern is generated in people in which they are are likewise being conditioned to skim through the experiences of their lives in much the same way; dismissing experiences they have just had or people with whom they have just had contact without fully attending to these things.
Because attention and memory have a profound relationship with each other, a short, jumpy awareness is being conditioned into many of us by how the Internet often presents facts and information to us in short, fragmented bursts. Our shortened attention spans are also affecting not only our working memories, but likewise our ability to use them insightfully.
Yet if one is willing to take time during one’s day when they are not online to pay greater attention to the details of one’s life, both attention and memory can be positively affected in a way in which one can begin to regain more control of one’s working memory. Take time to stop during the course of your day and pay attention to interesting people who you might pass by, beautiful natural settings, or possibly the architecture of certain buildings. You will not only be sharpening your capacity to attend, but also the strength of your working memory.
About the author:
Lyn Lesch founded and directed his own democratically run for children ages six to fourteen for twelve years, one that received widespread attention in the Chicago area as a unique approach to education. He has written four books on education reform, all of them emphasizing the importance of what occurs inside a young person while they learn. He has a lifelong interest in pursuing a larger consciousness. His new book is Intelligence in the Digital Age: How the Search for Something Larger May Be Imperiled.
Featured artwork:
All the images used in this article are made by the fantastic Julian Majin. Check out his work on Facebook and Instagram.
